5 oz., accented in 24K gold
"His soles like those of the tiger" is how the dragon was described in ancient China. First captured on Chinese and Japanese porcelain, the red dragon appeared on Europe's first porcelain, Meissen, around 1730. It is assumed that Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and Kind of Poland, commissioned the first complete dinner service in this pattern for his court dining room, which is why this pattern was named Red Court Dragon. This flowing composition in red and gold was reserved for the Saxon Royal family until 1918. It is now available to the world, and known as “Rich Court Dragon."
The history of porcelain manufacturing in Europe begins in Meissen, Germany near Dresden, the cradle of European porcelain. Apart from the short-lived production of the Medici factory in Florence in the 1560's, Meissen was the first successful producer of hard-paste porcelain - or true porcelain - in Europe. Meissen's products, and those of its imitators, who came later, destroyed the supremacy of the oriental porcelain that had held a virtual monopoly in the world since Marco Polo opened the china trade in 1295.
In the 17th and 18th centurie
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